Die Young
by Grasswing of Wingclan
Summary: Thistlepaw and Blazepaw are sisters and constantly, Sunclan and Duskclan have been fighting over a chunk of territory. When the littermates are joining the battle, blood will be spilt. And lives will be lost. Can they stop the battle? Dimclan challenge-Die Young.


**A/N: hey guys! Sorry for not updating my stories in a bit. Any who, I have another forum challenge for you guys! This one for Dimclan is about a cat who dies young and how they react/ feel about it along with their family. I hope you guys like it and if you want, listen to Pink- Who Knew to the one-shot. Enjoy!**

The cries of pain and anger were from a battle, far away from the Sunclan camp, but they still could be heard from camp, faint. Deep in the warm, cozy nursery, a young, reddish-brown she-cat lay with her ears flattened against her skull. Sure, she wasn't fighting, but that didn't mean she wasn't worried.

This constant fighting and heated arguments between Sunclan and Duskclan had lost so many innocent, young lives, not ready to leave. One life in particular, Blazepaw. She had been a young apprentice, almost eleven moons. Her life had been lost for territory space, but had it really been worth it?

Almost no prey came their during newleaf. Some scared from the battles that constantly happened there, some because of the strong stench of blood. Sticky, scarlet pools covered the lush, green grass, staining it red.

Blazepaw-an eager apprentice-had been excited to fight to help her clan, not aware that it meant living amongst the stars. Blazepaw had been her littermate, sister to be exact. She struggled with fighting and often trained for long periods of time on her own to master moves.

Closing her eyes, Thistleblaze let her mind take her back to that bloody, green leaf day, eight moons ago...

_ "Thistlepaw, aren't you excited? We get to fight Duskclan!" She meowed, practically jumping up and down. Thistlepaw had gave a forced nod, clearly disgusted by the deaths that had risen from this pointless fighting._

_"Yep. I can't wait to rip out some mangy Duskclan fur. This is going to be awesome," She replied, forcing herself to seem cheery. Blazepaw sensed something wrong and frowned, which was unusual about her._

_"You're lying. You don't want to fight, do you?"_

_It took Thistlepaw by surprise. Wow, after becoming so distant as apprentices, her sister still understood her better than anyone. "Fine. You're right," Thistlepaw sighed. "It's just, we lost so many cats and for what? A useless chunk of land!" She growled and Blazepaw shrugged._

_"It's not our fault Duskclan won't give up on fighting. We-"_

_"No Blazepaw," she interrupted. "We are no better than them! We have killed quite a few of their cats and they killed many of our clanmates, mother included!" She hissed and her sister was taken back by Thistlepaw's anger._

_"Thistlepaw-"_

_"No Blazepaw! Can't you see how these battles aren't worth it?" She wailed, her voice dangerously low. Blazepaw opened her mouth to reply but Thistlepaw didn't give her a chance. "Clearly you don't! You are excited! You want to fight these cats and shed blood!" She snarled and Blazepaw narrowed her green eyes._

_"Thistlepaw, you aren't yourself."_

_"No Blazepaw, you are the one who changed," she arg_ued. "All these cats, both Duskclan and Sunclan, have been forced to fight a battle we could easily avoid!" With that said, Thistlepaw turned heel and stormed off, leaving an angry and hurt Blazepaw behind.

Thistleblaze opened her eyes, stomach churning. She felt guilt wash over her and she curled up tighter. Did I really say those things to her? She thought miserably. Shutting her eyes closed again, she tried to ignore the pain and guilty.

_ "Thistlepaw, watched out for the others," Flaretail -her mentor- meowed. In a hushed voice, he added, "especially your sister."_

_I nodded silently, even though I was hoping not to have to babysit my sister. She practised her moves enough to be fine on her own, Thistlepaw growled in her head._

_The clan was tense, getting ready to go to battle. Blazepaw was on another patrol, and I was glad. The less I spent with her, the better._

_"Thistlepaw, ready to go?" Aspenstar meowed and the young apprentice nodded._

_As she felt her paws drag her to the field, where all the battles happened, bile rose to her throat. The ground beneath her held blood, the stench of death and was known as the Red Field._

_"Aspenstar, I thought you understood before that this chunk of territory belongs to Duskclan. Your warriors should go back to camp now," Wrenstar snarled, fur fluffed._

_"Wrenstar, you are sadly mistaken. SUNCLAN ATTACK!"_

_Cries and yowls filled the air as cats leapt at each other, claws meeting flesh. Thistlepaw looked around wildly, trying to find a way to stop this._

_The painful screeches of cats echoed through her ears, making her cringe. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Blazepaw, fighting a small ginger tom. At first, she was tempted to help her sister, but shrugged the feeling off._

_She'll be fine, Thistlepaw thought, searching for Aspenstar and Wrenstar. Thistlepaw spotted the two leaders not too far ahead, fighting viciously. Before she could run to them, she was barrelled over by a tortoiseshell she-cat. Claws sliced at her shoulder and the surprised apprentice lash back._

_Her attacker let out a hiss, biting down on Thistlepaw's ear. Screeching in pain, she gave blow upon blow to the she-cat's face, blood oozing down it. The Duskclan apprentice turned and fled, tail between her legs._

_Spitting out blood, she shuddered. "Thistlepaw!" Thistlepaw froze, looking around the battle field. She couldn't tell where the cry came from, only that it had to be Blazepaw._

_"Blazepaw? Blazepaw!" She wailed, dodging bloody cats. "Blazepaw!" She cried, leaping over the limp body of a cat._

_"Thistlepaw!" The cry this time sounded closer, but she couldn't find her sister anywhere._

_"DUSKCLAN RETREAT!" Wrenstar yowled and Duskclan warriors began to flee back to their territory, dragging their fallen warriors with them._

_"Thistlepaw." The cry was weak and finally, with the battle over, Thistlepaw could see her sister._

_"B-Blazepaw!" She shrieked, rushing to her littermate's side. Blazepaw's white-and-grey tabby fur was soaked with blood, the white parts scarlet. Her cheery, bright green eyes were slowly loosing their light, becoming a dull colour._

_"Thistlepaw? You came to help me," she rasped, looking up at her sister. Thistlepaw swallowed back a sob, nuzzling her sister's head._

_"Don't worry Blazepaw! We will get you back to camp and you'll be fine!" The dying apprentice shook her head._

_"I won't make it."_

_"No! Blazepaw! This is my fault! If I hadn't gotten mad at you earlier and stuck with you, none of this would have happened!" She wailed, her paws pressing down on the wound if her sister's neck._

_Blazepaw gave a ragged cough, the pool of blood was growing beneath her. "Thistlepaw?"_

_Thistlepaw looked her sister in the eyes. "Yes?" She said weakly._

_"I ripped out some of that mangy Duskclan fur for you," she whispered._

_"On Blazepaw!" She cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. Even when things were dark and gloomy, she had to find a way to cheer her up. "I love you! I didn't want you to die in this battle! What about getting our warrior names together? You promised!"_

_"I want to get it with you but-" she began to cough, wheezing as she struggled to breathe. "D-Did I do a good job fighting? I managed to send that ginger tom running," she purred and Thistlepaw gave a forced smile._

_"I'm glad you taught that foolish tom a lesson," she sobbed, licking her sister's cheek._

_"Will you stop all this fighting? I don't want young cats dying anymore from this," Blazepaw murmured, her breathing shallow._

_"I will. Just promise me you will watch over me."_

_"I promise," Blazepaw rasped, her eyes closing. Her body took one last shudder, laying still. Thistlepaw broke down, weeping into her blood soaked fur. _

She died too young, Thistleblaze thought with a sigh as she opened her eyes. /Will you stop all this fighting? I don't want young cats dying anymore from this./ Blazepaw's voice echoed in her head and she nodded. Thistleblaze got to her paws, walking out of the nursery.

The cats who lay, waiting in the clearing looked at her oddly. "Thistleblaze, where are you going?"

She ignored the question, pushing past the crowd that had gathered. "Thistleblaze, get back here!" Cats were calling my name but I chose to keep going.

I will stop this Blazepaw! I promise!

The cries and screeches got louder as I neared The Red Field. Wrenstar and Aspenstar were fighting not too far away. Angry, I pushed my way past the fighting cats, not caring about any scratches on my pelt I got. _Thistleblaze! You can do it!_

Blazepaw's encouraging meowed echoed through my ears, giving me power. "Aspenstar! Wrenstar!" She growled at the two leaders. "Stop this now!"

They didn't seem to hear her, continuing their fighting. Leaping in between them, she yowled again. "STOP!" This time, both leaders looked at her.

"Thistleblaze, go back to camp! You don't want to hurt your kits!"

"No! I'm not leaving. We need to stop this fighting! NOW!" Wrenstar narrowed her eyes.

"Do as your leader says," she hissed and the stubborn queen shook her head.

"EVERYONE! STOP THE FIGHTING NOW!" She yowled at the top of her lungs, echoing through the clearing. Immediately, cats stopped fighting and turned to look at her, baffled. Even Wrenstar and Aspenstar were surprised at her boldness.

"Thistleblaze? What are you doing?"

"Everyone, both Duskclan and Sunclan have fought for this territory for moons, the amount of blood shed here is heart breaking! We have to stop this arguement! This chunk of land is useless thanks to all the fighting! We have scared away prey and the plants are torn!" She yowled and a few cats mumbled in agreement.

"We have lost so many warriors to these battles, most of them dying too young! My sister died from this battle and she asked me to stop the fighting. Is this really what our clans have been reduced to? Fighting like savages and killing innocent cats?"

Aspenstar looked at her warrior. "Thistleblaze, listen-"

"No. I won't be lectured like a kit. I do not want to have my kits potentially die if they fought over this territory," she growled to her leader, earning gasps from the cats below her. "We have to stop this before we lose any more cats! If we keep fighting over this territory, why not leave it for neither of our clans? We have to change this feud!" She yowled and cats yowled in agreement.

Aspenstar sighed. "I suppose you are right, Thistleblaze. We have to stop this fighting," she said and Wrenstar nodded.

"I'm sorry you lost your sister. No more cats will die to this argument over this chunk of land. This field will now be no clan's territory!" She boomed and cats nodded.

"Thank you," Thistleblaze purred.

_"Thank you sister."_

Looking to her left, she saw the faint outline of Blazepaw. Her sister had a smile on her face before slowly fading. "_You saved our clan."_

* * *

><p>Thistleblaze smiled, looking down at her belly, the single kit who lay there. "I will name you Blazekit," she purred, liking her daughter's head. "I won't let you get hurt..."<p>

**A/N: How did you guys like it? So sorry for not putting anything up sooner! I got my computer taken away. Sorry about any mistakes, my iPod only will correct so many. I hope you guys like it and don't forget to go and check out Dimclan! It i. An awesome forum and everyone there is so nice! **

**-Grasswing**


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